Cold Case

Murder charges against a South Bay man and his brother in a 1989 cold case in which the man’s wife was found strangled and wrapped in a quilt have been dismissed over an affair betweeen the lead prosecutor and the lab technician who was one of the main prosecution witnesses.

A prosecutor and a DNA expert working on a 1989 cold case murder in San Jose have been reassigned after the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office learned they were having an affair, but prosecutors said Monday they do not think it will affect the case.

A 48-year-old man wanted for a 1986 attempted murder and kidnapping out of Salinas was arrested Thursday in Watsonville after a police officer found he was living under assumed identities, police said Friday.

A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge on Friday entered a not guilty plea for Robert Zimmer, who along with his brother David is accused of murdering David’s estranged wife in San Jose 25 years ago.

David Zimmer, 69, of Half Moon Bay, entered his plea at his arraignment on a charge that he murdered 38-year-old Cathy Zimmer, whose strangled body was found inside her car in San Jose on March 10, 1989.